PENDER COUNTY, N.C. (WWAY) — Winter weather is expected to move into the region Saturday. Pender County Emergency Management are urging residents to prepare now. The National Weather Service forecasts sleet and freezing rain beginning Saturday night and continuing into Sunday, creating hazardous travel conditions and the potential for power outages across the region.

Preparing now can help protect families, pets, and property as freezing temperatures and icy conditions extend into this weekend and through next week.

Residents are encouraged to take the following safety actions:

• Restock or update emergency kits to ensure essential supplies are ready before conditions worsen.
• Keep at least a three-day supply of nonperishable food on hand to avoid unnecessary travel during hazardous weather.
• Use rock salt or ice‑melt products to keep walkways clear and reduce the risk of slips and falls.
• Create or review family communication plans in case power or cell service is disrupted.
• Avoid travel whenever possible during winter storms due to dangerous road conditions.
• If travel is necessary, use extreme caution and allow extra time.
• Check on older adults to ensure they have heat, food, medications and working flashlights.
• Keep a close eye on children, especially when playing outdoors. Limit time in the cold and make sure they’re dressed in warm layers.
• Bring pets indoors to protect them from freezing temperatures.
• Move outdoor animals to sheltered areas and ensure they have access to unfrozen drinking water.
• Never use charcoal grills or camp stoves indoors for heating or cooking. These devices produce toxic fumes that can be deadly.

Download the Pender County Emergency Management App. Visit your phone’s app store, search for Pender County EM and allow notifications to receive emergency alerts, weather updates and important safety information.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The City of Wilmington’s  Public Services Department began making preparations on Thursday, anticipating the wave of winter precipitation will have a major impact on Wilmington roads.

The city already has two trucks treating streets with a salt water mixture, and sand and salt, in an effort to minimize the chance of roads icing over.

“When you put brine out on the road, and it’s followed by rain, you lose the effectiveness, but I think in preparation we’d rather do it and not need it, or we can always redo it if the need becomes available,” said Dave Mayes, City of Wilmington Director of Public Services.

They’re focusing on the most used roads first, and those with an incline. They’ll be back out again tomorrow with three trucks, instead of two.

City officials are advising residents to limit travel over the next couple of days.

“We’ll do everything that we can to make the roads as safe as possible. Ultimately, with ice that’s the most difficult of situations that we would have, and if you don’t have to go out, please don’t,” said Mayes.

“We are going to be seeing power outages, we are going to see downed trees and tree limbs, and we have crew ready to go to clean that debris up as quickly as we can get them out in a safe manner,” said Bill Saffo, City of Wilmington Mayor.

Mayor Bill Saffo shared what the city’s expectations are for this storm, reminding residents public services and emergency management is prepared to respond.

“Just telling people to be vigilant, to be safe, to get prepared, and to get their supplies before the storm comes in, and be ready to weather it out,” said Saffo.

Plows have also been installed on the trucks, in case there’s an accumulation of sleet, ice or snow.

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The Cape Fear made it through the 2020 snowstorm pretty much unscathed.

If you were up late Thursday night in Elizabethtown, you saw rounds of flurries roll through, but the flurries quickly gave way to wet roads Friday morning in Wilmington.

“Accumulation on the roadways was not really present,” NCDOT Maintenance Engineer Gerard Taylor said. “However, there are isolated spots with ice. So therefore it comes a little bit of a hazard.”

The NCDOT says while it may not look like much, the leftover water from the snowflakes can be dangerous.

“As the temperatures drop, any residual moisture on the roads will refreeze,” Taylor said.

He says this is when most accidents usually happen.

“When people are still going at highway speeds through the daylight hours and that transition to the dark. Roads tend to refreeze rather quickly,” Taylor said.

He says to be especially careful if you are travelling over bridges or roads above water.

“Be mindful about those areas that you know are stream crossings, bridges and such like that due to the refreezing and the channeling of wind underneath overpasses and also the underpasses,” Taylor said.

Taylor says although the wintry mix has stopped, that doesn’t mean the DOT will.

“Tonight there will be crews on standby,” he said. “And there may be some crews in throughout the region.”

He says to be cautious and to not let your guard down while driving.

“Give yourself a little bit more room, slow down, and drive safe,” Taylor said.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — We haven’t see any snowflakes fly yet this winter, but that wasn’t the case back in 2014. Wednesday is the 6th anniversary of a pretty memorable winter storm in the Cape Fear.

A combination of snow, sleet, and freezing rain fell and some areas saw as much as 2 to 4 inches of accumulation.

It provided a lot of fun for locals, but also some travel headaches.

Icy roads caused schools and businesses to be closed for several days after the storm.

The New Hanover County 911 center reported 58 injuries due to people falling on the ice.

The officially tally for Wilmington was 1.8 inches of the white stuff.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Students in Brunswick County and New Hanover County will get an extra day of Christmas break thanks to the potential for a winter storm.

Brunswick County Schools announced this afternoon that classes will be canceled Wednesday due to the threat of bad weather.

Later in the day New Hanover County Schools also schools would be closed for students and staff Wednesday.

NHCS will be closed for students and staff on Wednesday, January 3, 2018, due to the expected inclement weather.

— New Hanover Co Sch (@NewHanoverCoSch) January 2, 2018

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning through early Thursday morning. Forecasters predict sleet and snow to fall Wednesday with accumulations up to a couple of inches through Wednesday evening.

Get your StormTrack3 forecast

Pender County Schools will release students three hours early Wednesday. PACES afterschool care will operate until 3 p.m. All other afterschool activities, including 21^st Century programs, have been canceled.

Columbus County Schools will release at noon. Students in Whiteville City Schools will also be sent home early. Whiteville Primary and Whiteville High School will dismiss at noon. Edgewood Elementary, Central Middle and N. Whiteville Academy will dismiss at 12:15 p.m.

Check out our latest list of closings and delays

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The National Weather Service in Wilmington has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for southeastern North Carolina starting at 5 a.m. Friday.

The advisory for coastal Pender, New Hanover, Brunswick counties is up until 1 p.m. Friday. It continues until 6 p.m. Friday for Bladen, Columbus and inland Pender counties.

Forecasters say hazards could include freezing rain, snow and sleet. Ice accumulation of a trace to less than a tenth of an inch or a light coating of snow and sleet is possible along the coast with up to a tenth of an inch of ice or a quarter inch of snow inland. They say the timing is from Friday morning through early afternoon.

Roadways and walkways will likely become very slippery. Bridges and overpasses will be especially dangerous.

A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of freezing rain, snow, and sleet will cause travel difficulties. Be prepared for slippery roads and limited visibilities and use caution while driving.

Stay with the WWAY StormTrack 3 Weather Team on-air, online and on the go with our mobile apps for more information.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A Winter Weather Advisory continues for Bladen and Pender counties through noon Thursday.

Another wave of low pressure will track northeast close to the Carolina coast overnight and continue to pull up plenty of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Rain over the region will continue to push northward through the area, and at times will be heavy.

It is possible the rain could mix or change over to some snow, sleet or freezing rain well inland in the advisory areas. There have been reports of this already happening earlier this evening, but the precipitation has since changed back to all rain. Temperatures in those areas are expected to drop close the freezing mark, so it is possible there could be some light accumulation if a sustained change over happens. Again, this is a possibility and not a guarantee. In the Cape Fear region, including Wilmington the precipitation will only fall as a cold rain for the rest of the storm event. This system will bring the entire region a good soaking of rain with most, if not all, picking up well over an inch of rain before it ends tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned for to the very latest StormTrack 3 forecasts on Facebook and Twitter, and on-air by streaming us live!

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The National Weather Service has issued an Ice Storm Warning until 8 p.m. for New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties.

The storm system that brought the region a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain will continue to pull away from the coast later this evening taking the precipitation with it. However, before that, additional ice accumulation is expected for the next several hours, which could cause a total ice accumulation of up to a quarter of an inch in some place before it ends. This could cause some power outages and limbs to come down.

Travelers are strongly discouraged from driving this evening and should keep a close eye on the road conditions if they need to travel later tonight into tomorrow morning until temperatures rise above freezing.

The threat of winter weather has forced area schools to announce closings and delays. Click here for the latest list.

For more information, click here for the WWAY StormTrack 3 weather center.

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — It’s March, but winter has not given up in North Carolina.

School systems dismissed classes early Monday after the National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for much of the central and eastern parts of the state.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and N.C. State University canceled evening classes because of the approaching storm. The UNC men’s basketball team was still scheduled to play its game against Notre Dame Monday evening.

Sleet and freezing rain was expected in the eastern part of the state and the northern Outer Banks beginning Monday afternoon. Up to a half inch of sleet also was possible in the central part of the state, including Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham and Raleigh.

Northeastern counties were expecting up to two inches of snow.

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The last week of January brought record cold temperatures and a major winter storm to southeastern NC. Several hours of persistent sleet gave way to snowfall accumulations, leading to dangerous road conditions.

Below, you will find a comparison between the forecast given by our weather team and the actual (unofficial) observed totals reported to the National Weather Service.

For any storm you can always follow the latest updates via Facebook & Twitter, or download our StormTrack 3 mobile app to see a more detailed forecast for your home.

Chief Meteorologist Jerry Jackson